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Zack Greinke
Donald Zackary "Zack" Greinke (born October 21, 1983) is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Anaheim Angels. Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award in 2009.Blum, Ronald. "Zack Greinke of Royals wins AL Cy Young Award". Yahoo! News. November 17, 2009. High school & minor league Greinke was born in Orlando, Florida. After being named the Gatorade National Player of the Year in 2002, he was selected out of Apopka High School (and turning down a scholarship to Clemson) in the first round of the 2002 draft. In 2003, he played for the Wilmington Blue Rocks and Wichita Wranglers, where he was named the Royals Minor League Pitcher of the Year, Carolina League Pitcher of the Year, and The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year, with a 15–4 record and 1.93 ERA. Major league career Greinke made his major league debut on May 22, 2004 against the Oakland Athletics. Greinke's first major league hit was a home run off Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Russ Ortiz in a 12–11 loss on June 10, 2005. Greinke left spring training for personal reasons in late February 2006. It was later revealed that he was suffering from social anxiety disorder and depression. He reported back to the Royals' spring training facility in Surprise, Arizona, on April 17, where he underwent ongoing pitching sessions. He was placed on the 60-day disabled list due to psychological issues and took time away from baseball entirely until returning on a rehab assignment with Wichita. In 2007, he returned to the Royals rotation at the start of the season, but was sent to the bullpen in early May. Greinke's 2008 saw him return to the rotation and put up a good year. His 3.47 ERA was the best by a full-time Royals starter in 11 years. On January 26, 2009, Greinke agreed to a four-year contract with the Royals worth $38 million. Greinke started off 2009 by not allowing a run in his first 24 innings. Greinke's 2008 ended with 14 scoreless innings, which meant that for 38 innings in a row, he hadn't given up a run. Greinke was named American League Pitcher of the Month for April for all tops in the Majors his 5 wins, 0.50 ERA and 44 strikeouts. On August 25, Greinke struck out 15 batters, breaking Mark Gubicza's record for strikeouts in a single game for the Royals. On August 30, Greinke had a one-hit complete game against the Seattle Mariners. His record for the 2009 season was 16-8, and he posted an ERA of 2.16, the lowest in MLB. On October 21st, Greinke was named American League Pitcher of the Year by The Sporting News . On October 28, Greinke was awarded the MLBPA Players Choice AL Pitcher of the Year, which was announced during Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio. On November 17, 2009, Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award. Greinke credited some of his performance to his use of "modern pitching metrics" — statistics on team defense and defense independent pitching statistics — to calibrate his own approach to pitching. Greinke specifically mentioned "FIP" (fielding independent pitching), an indicator developed by sabermetrician Tom Tango, as his favorite statistic. "That's pretty much how I pitch, to try to keep my FIP as low as possible."Tyler Kepner, "Use of Statistics Helps Greinke to A.L. Cy Young," [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/sports/baseball/18pitcher.html New York Times, November 18, 2009]. On December 19, 2012, Grienka was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers along with Yuniesky Betancourt for Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jeremy Jeffress, and Jake Odorizzi On July 27, 2012, Grienke was traded to the Los Angeles Angels for minor leaguers Ariel Pena, John Hellweg, and Jean Segura. Personal life Greinke is married to Miss Daytona Beach USA 2008 Emily Kuchar.Jerry Crasnick: Zack Greinke is a changed man Greinke met Kuchar in high school at Apopka High School. Kuchar is a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.Quiet Greinke making plenty of noise Her brother is professional golfer Matt Kuchar. References See also *List of Major League Baseball ERA champions External links * }} Category:1983 births Category:All-Star Futures Game players Category:American League All-Stars Category:American League ERA champions Category:Living people Category:Major League Baseball pitchers Category:Baseball players from Florida Category:People from Orlando, Florida Category:Starting Pitchers Category:2009 American League All-Stars Category:Players Category:Anaheim Angels players Category:Kansas City Royals players Category:Milwaukee Brewers players